Chapter 34 - Chuunin Exam(5)
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"To the 78 remaining… You pass!"
All of them was shocked by the sudden announcement of Ibiki,
"What do you mean we already passed? What about the 10th question?"
Ibiki smiled, getting rid of his previous persona and replied "There was no such thing. Or you could say that those two choices were the 10th question."
"Huh?"
"Then what were the first 9 questions?! They were pointless then!" Temari shoutingly complained
Ibiki explained "They were not pointless… They had already served their intended purpose."
"?" The genins looked at him in confusion
Ibiki further explained "It was to test your individual gathering ability. That purpose."
"Information gathering?"
"First, as the rules explained, success on this test is based on the whole team doing well. This puts pressure on each member not to mess things up for their teammates. But the questions on this test were not the types that mere genins could answer. Because of that… I'm sure most of the people here came to the same conclusion that to score points, they'll have to cheat."
"Basically, the premise of this test is to cheat. As cheating targets, we had a few chuunins who knew all the answers mixed into the crowd to help you guys out."
"Man… it sure was tough finding that guy."
"Yeah, I know…"
"But those that cheat poorly, fail of course." Ibiki slowly unwrap his personal forehead protector that covered his whole head revealing torture marks all over his head and continues with a smile "Because, in times, Information is more important than life and on missions and the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it."
Their faces went pale as they saw the burned marks, cut marks, and hole marks in his forehead and nodded in acknowledgement of what he was saying. Judging by his scars he had experienced it firsthand, what more could they say but agree.
He wears his forehead protector again to cover the torture marks and continues to explain "If the enemy or 3rd party notices you, there is no guarantee the info will be accurate. I want you to remember this well. Information in your hands can be a powerful weapon for your comrades and for the village so we had you gather information through cheating. This clearly separated those that did not have the right abilities."
Temari asked in confusion "But I don't understand the final question."
Shikamaru sighed as he heard Temari and said "What a drag."
Temari was annoyed at his comment thinking he was mocking her but ignored him as she waited for Ibiki's answer.
"Oh that? That blonde kid answered it earlier. It's the true purpose of this test."
They all looked at Naruto who sighed but still explained as if he mocked them "It's the moment where you'll put your life on the line for something. Weren't you guys listening when I started talking earlier? Now I feel embarrassed for your intellect as ninjas of the same rank."
They could only let a dry laugh and nod
Ibiki nodded in agreement, "Exactly. The question is 'to take it' or 'not to take it' decision, obviously a painful decision for you. "
"Those who choose the latter fail along with their teammates. Those who take it could lose the chance to ever take the test again. A true leap of faith. You will make choices that might be the hardest decision in your life during missions."
"Let's say… you guys become a chuunin. Your mission is to steal a secret document. The amount of ninjas, their abilities, etc. is unknown to you. There will also be traps set up around the area. Now…"
"Do you accept it or not? But the mission is unavoidable, would you run away cowardly? No! No matter what the danger, there are missions you can't avoid. The ability to be courageous and survive hardship… This is the ability needed to become a chuunin captain."
They nodded in understanding as they dumbed down the answer of Naruto for them.
"You have made it through the entrance, the first test of the chuunin selection exam is now finished. I wish you guys luck!" He said with a smile.
They smiled happily as they heard it but a female ninja suddenly broke into the window that raised their guard up. And with a cloth tied to kunais she threw it into the walls and the ground to display a banner. And announced loudly "You guys! This is no time to be celebrating! I am the examiner for the second test! Mitarashi Anko! Now, Let's go! Follow me!"
"?!?!" All of the genins looked in surprise at this examiner.
Ibiki peaked behind the banner and said "Bad timing…"
Anko's face turned a bit red in embarrassment under the watchful gazes of the genins because of Ibiki. To diffuse the situation she counted the number of genins to shrug what Ibiki said "78? Ibiki! You left 26 teams? The test was too easy this time."
Ibiki smiled and replied "This time… There are a lot of outstanding ones."
"Bah… That's fine, I'll at least drop the number by half in the second test."
The genins nervously thought the same thing 'At least in half? How difficult is the second test?'
Anko smiled and said as she turned around and walked outside the room "Ah… I'm getting excited… I'll explain everything once we've changed places, follow me."
Naruto yawned as he stood up and commented "I thought there was only one exam today because they made us come to the exam at 4 pm but it seems the exam will last a few days… What a drag…"
Shikamaru on his side agreed as well and he also yawned while standing up "Indeed…"
The genins all stood up and followed Anko
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"?!" Ibiki, who was collecting the test papers, was surprised at Naruto's answers. The questions were about cryptogram and other ninja strategies in battle that one would only possess if he has gone through a lot of battle or is a genius with theoretical knowledge.
He got all answers correct despite only answering for 5 minutes. He didn't cheat because the chuunins planted were still not finished with some chapters so he probably depended on his original knowledge. One must take note that Naruto is only a genin and he only had the bare minimum of d-rank missions and one b-rank mission. "Uzumaki Naruto… Interesting." He said with a grin.
The Forest of Death…
Anko stood tall as she explained in front of the genins with her back against a fence that said 'Danger! Stay out!' "Welcome to the stage of the second test, practice arena 44 also known as 'The Forest of Death.'"
Naruto whistled as he commented upon seeing the trees in the forest "That forest is looks disgusting, should have named it 'The forest of shit' instead."
This got a light laugh from the genins
Anko smiled with her eyes closed seemingly annoyed by the tone of Naruto and the laugh from the genins "You'll soon find out, why it's called the 'forest of death.'"
*sniff* *sniff* "It smells like shit too, should have indeed named it as forest of shit." Naruto replied in disgust as he ignored Anko's comment.
The genins laughed at Naruto's actions out loud.
Anko turned red in anger at Naruto's conduct and threw a kunai to his face to teach him a lesson.
Naruto turned his head to follow the trajectory of the kunai, Same for the genins. Anko smiled evilly as she saw him dodge it by hair's breadth and dashed to his back with a kunai in her hand to teach Naruto a lesson.
Naruto smiled as well but Anko didn't see his smile. Naruto smiled because although he turned to follow kunai, in the corner of his eye he saw Anko dash in his direction. Based on the speed of Anko she would arrive in about 2 seconds.
Naruto kicked in Anko's direction when the time was up "Guah!" Anko groaned in pain as she thought 'Impossible? How'd he see me?'
Naruto chuckled as his kick sent Anko flying. "That's what you get for trying to test me like those two jounin in the genjutsu before the first test."
The genins didn't see the fight between Naruto and Anko as they turned their heads in the direction of the kunai so they were shocked by the unusual turn of events where the jounin was the one on the ground, and the genin was the one standing up.
The ordinary genins thought the same 'If we encounter this guy we should surrender.'
The exceptional ones were excited to fight Naruto
Anko laughed standing up and said "I thought you were just a cocky kid without any strength to back it up but it turns out I was wrong. So you're Uzumaki Naruto, the two jounins from before commented that you were a beast."
"Eh… I don't know about that but can we hurry up? I wanna go home."
Anko sighed, "If you weren't annoying me, I would have explained the exam rules by now."
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(A/N: Why does the day pass by so quickly? Now I have to write 2 chapters today… Sigh… I'll publish the other chapter later… Leave a power stone if you like the story. Thanks!)